


Withering Garden

by Somniiari



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Basically an elaborate backstory fic, Family Shenanigans, Gen, Post-X, Pre-BBS, Radiant Garden, Theory Crafting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 02:50:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10350747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somniiari/pseuds/Somniiari
Summary: Tales from a garden before it lost its radiance. A series of interconnected one-shots taking place in Radiant Garden before the fall. Theories abound. Characters and tags added as they appear.





	

She stepped out into the light, into the warmth of the rising sun. The sky was just turning blue, but swathes of oranges and yellows still graced the horizon. She walked farther, over a hill to find herself on the edge of a cliff overlooking a large body of water. Rising above the gentle waves was a beautiful city with a towering castle, fountains tall enough to be seen from this distance, and an abundance of greenery.

It looked peaceful. 

Behind her trailed her littlest dandelion. He couldn’t have been more than ten, a boy with dark eyes and darker tousled hair. He couldn’t wield a keyblade. Maybe he never would. But she couldn’t leave a child so young behind, not one so cruelly abandoned. 

She knew what that was like.

“Where are we?” he asked.

A good question. The stasis pods she had situated everyone in were set to scatter the worlds like dandelion seeds, blooming at different times and different places. They could be anywhere.

“I’m not sure. It looks a bit like Daybreak Town, doesn’t it?”

The boy ran up next to her and stood on his toes to get a better look over the cliff. 

“Kinda! No clocktower though. Unless-“ He squinted, then pointed in another direction. “-that’s it. Looks kinda gutted, though.”

Ava smiled at the boy screwing up his face trying to figure out the structure in the distance.

“A lot can happen over time,” she told him, “we may have been asleep for a long while.”

“Great. Everyone’s gone, ‘m still sleepy and we may not even be someplace new,” the kid complained, shoulders slumping.

“Relax, little one,” she laughed, stepping forward to place a hand on his shoulder. “We can still make it an adventure.”

He pouted, but squared his shoulders and nodded.

They spent the better part of the day climbing down the mountain. The boy was surprisingly agile for his age, and Ava found she had to worry very little about him. In fact, he made it to the bottom at least fifteen minutes before she did, and made a big show of yawning and checking his non-existent pocket watch before Ava lost her patience and jumped the rest of the way.

“Don’t ever do what I just did, child,” Ava warned, rubbing her ankles. “It was very dangerous.”

The boy had just watched the woman leap 40 feet, flip forward, and land almost perfectly on her feet.

“I am definitely going to do that,” the boy announced, wide-eyed.

“No, do not-“

“Someday! I’m gonna do it someday-“

“No, never, please Br-“

“But it looked so cool!”

Ava grabbed the boy by his shoulders and tilted her mask up to look him in the eye.

“No.”

Slightly stunned, the boy nodded once, slowly.

“…’Kay.”

“Good.”

She stood up straight and dusted herself off. She reached to readjust her mask, then thought for a moment. Ava decided to remove it entirely, and push her hood back.

A new beginning was on the horizon. No reason to hide her true face from anyone anymore.

The boy was staring.

“What? Didn’t think I had a face?” She grinned.

“Nah, I thought you were an actual fox,” he quipped quickly. “My childhood is ruined. How dare you.”

“You’re still a child, dear.”

A child who’s seen a war.

“Whatever, hey, how are we gonna get from here to there?” the boy asked, gesturing widely from the huge expanse of water to the city in the distance, changing the subject.

In the end, creative magic usage was the answer. With the boy gleefully clinging to Ava’s neck, the Foreteller used a combination of ice and wind magic to cross the distance. Blizzara froze a solid surf-board like raft and Aeroga propelled it forward. 

After an hour of magic surfing and delighted whooping, the pair crashed head over heels into one of the outer walkways. The boy bounced right back onto his feet. Drained from mana depletion, Ava did not.

“Are you dead?” the kid asked, nudging Ava’s shoulder with a toe.

“Yes.”

“I’ll avenge you,” he said solemnly.

Ava snickered from the ground.

“Hey! You there! Are you quite alright?” 

Both heads turned in the direction of the new voice.

Some distance away, a woman in a blue uniform was approaching them.

Ava stood.

“Oh, we’re fine. Just having a bit of fun,” she explained.

The guardswoman stopped in front of them and smiled.

“I can see that! I never thought you could use magic that way,” she studied them carefully and her face changed, brow furrowing. “I don’t believe I know either of you.”

“We’re from out of town,” Ava said quickly. “It’s our first time visiting.”

The guard’s face softened.

“Well, in that case…

“Welcome to Radiant Garden.”

**Author's Note:**

> The boy is a canon character but I didn't tag him because that would ruin the surprise :-) Also he'll be back. If I continue this, and I hope I do.
> 
> The tags are really sparse right now, but I don't want to falsely advertise if it takes me a while to continue.


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